No filter

A local authority in Bedfordshire has suffered a bit of a system failure recently, and we are guessing that it was because the necessary filters were not in place. In (DCS Number 400-018-075) the council accepted an outline planning application for the conversion of stables and a barn to a dwelling. Clearly, this is an application that should not have been validated, or registered, or decided. Even worse, the error was not picked up by the council when the applicants took its refusal to appeal.

As the inspector explained, “Article 2(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 makes it clear that “outline planning permission” means a planning permission for the erection of a building, which is granted subject to a condition requiring the subsequent approval of the local planning authority with respect to one or more reserved matters”. It is not possible, therefore, under the provisions of the Order, to grant outline planning permission for the nature of the development for which permission is sought.”

Quite simply, you can’t have an outline permission for a change of use so send any such application straight back.

The rules concerning applications for outline planning permission are set out at section 5.131 of DCP Online.

The government will bring forward most of its controversial package of new permitted development (PD) rights and use class flexibilities that aim to boost ailing high streets, but it is still considering proposals to allow office demolition for new homes, housing secretary James Brokenshire announced this afternoon.

A decision on whether to develop a "spatial vision" for the Oxford to Cambridge growth arc has still not been made, ministers have confirmed, just a few days after the government's infrastructure adviser warned that failure to do so could compromise the success of the project.

The government has pledged to publish additional planning guidance on housing diversification on large sites in its response to Sir Oliver Letwin's review of build-out rates, but has again stopped short of pledging stronger powers to allow councils to capture land value uplift.

The chancellor has unveiled a raft of funding pledges for housing and infrastructure, including £717 million from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to support the delivery of homes at sites in London and Cheshire.

The housing minister Kit Malthouse has suggested that the government could be willing to offer council's flexibility in meeting the requirements of the housing delivery test to ensure that new homes adhere to high design standards.

The housing secretary is to reconsider his refusal of plans for a 220-home, 17-storey tower in south London against the advice of a planning inspector, after conceding that he failed to give adequate reasons to justify the refusal, according to the local authority concerned.

A claim that a newly-reopened galley in Milton Keynes makes the new town "exciting all over again" and attempts to embody the settlement's original "spirit of excitement about the future" features in today's newspaper round-up.